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Sunday, 15 December 2013

So how is it the 15th December and we're only just getting around to talking about Christmas?! Craziness! I am all about festive overloads! but this year has just been crazy busy and sadly Christmas baking has taken a backseat. If you find yourself in the same situation, this is a great little no bake recipe to have up your sleeve because it is sooo easy to throw together and is a total crowd pleaser!

It is also a good cheats version of fudge...using only melted chocolate mixed in with condensed milk - how can you go wrong with that! So a milk chocolate layer of fudge goes down first, with a white chocolate layer spread on top (with liberal amounts of crushed candy canes mixed in) because in my opinion it's not a Christmas bake unless peppermint is involved! You swirl the two together, and sprinkle with whole chunks of candy cane!

What you get is a smooth creamy chocolatey fudge with hints of peppermint and crunch coming through from the candy canes! A delight for the eyes...and the tastebuds!

and if you want to give it out as gifts as I did, it goes beautifully in these super cute festive bags...complete with pegs and tags! My mom sent me these in a package and I couldn't get over how awesome they were!

Line your 11x7" pan with parchment paper, and lightly grease it with butter.

Break up your milk and dark chocolate into pieces, and place it in a heatproof bowl above a pan of boiling water. Stir until melted. Once completely melted, stir in the can of condensed milk.

Spread the chocolate fudge over the bottom of your pan.

Break up your white chocolate into pieces, and place in a heatproof bowl above a pan of boiling water, Whilst it is melting, unwrap your 10 candy canes and blitz them in a food processor/blender until they are completely crushed. Once chocolate is melted, stir in the can of condensed milk.

Remove from the heat and stir in the crushed candy canes.

Spread over the milk chocolate fudge layer. Using a knife swirl the two fudges together to create a marbled effect, by dragging the knife in 'S' patterns through the fudge.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

I recently got a new job! I had been temping for a month as a receptionist for an oil company, and they asked me if I was interested in the job permanently - I told them I definitely was! but then had to explain my situation, because I wasn't showing back then! so I explained how I was pregnant and due Feb 4th! They had some other candidates to interview alongside me, and so the tense wait began! I'm clearly not the best prospect in the world as in 8 weeks time I'll be heading off on maternity leave! but through some definite answered prayers I was offered the job! At 6 months pregnant...I took that as quite an achievement!
I decided some baking was in order to celebrate! and since I work in an office with 40 men and 2 women I tried to think of the manliest cupcakes I could bake! I decided snickers would be a good place to start and these cupcakes were born!

A moist chocolate sponge with a snickers slither baked in the middle, filled with caramel, topped with a caramel frosting, broken up pieces of snickers and nuts and a drizzle of chocolate!
To say they went down well is an understatement! I'm not sure there were any left past 10.30am! and I thought I was the only one with a big enough sweet tooth to eat cupcakes for breakfast!

All day long my inbox pinged with emails coming through from all the different engineers thanking me for the cakes! Here is a selection of my favourite comments...

"Were you in the cupcake business before working here? That is some serious cupcake equipment you have left on the filing cabinet! and the cupcakes are darn good!" Paul the engineer

"Congratulations! Mary Berry would be proud of that tray." Chris the engineer

"Wowzers!! Those cakes are shamazing!!! You should sell them." Colin the engineer

"Gemma… the muffins are DE-licious. That’s what heaven must taste like." Sundeep the engineer, who I had a little chat with to educate him on the difference between a muffin and a cupcake, haha!

I have now created quite a stir in the office and there's lots of pressure for more baking to come their way! They kept asking me when I was going to bring in snickers cupcakes again, and then someone asked me if I could bake other things besides snickers cupcakes...so I emailed them a link to the recipe index on here and now it's all the office talks about! I don't really think they understand the blogging thing so it's referred to as 'the list'...and it's doing the rounds! People are requesting bakes left, right and centre...first it was my blueberry and banana bread, then the chocolate malt layer cake and now someone has even asked me to make a Christmas cake for their mom...which is quite a task!

I'm thinking when I eventually go on maternity leave, I could probably just make a living driving by my work once a week and doing a baking drop off! haha

In a large bowl mix together all
ingredients, except Snickers. Spoon or pour cupcake batter into cupcake
pan. Stuff one mini Snickers in each cupcake case, using a spatula to make
sure the Snickers is covered with cupcake batter.

Bake regular sized cupcakes for about 23 to 28 minutes and mini's for 12-15 minutes. Test that the tops bounce back when pressed with a finger, since sticking a toothpick or knife into the middle of the cake will result in a gooey Snickers mess!

Cool in the cupcake pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting by mixing brown sugar, butter
and milk in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts.
Once butter melts, increase heat to medium high and let boil for about 2
minutes. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar.

Leave frosting to sit in the bowl for about 5-10 minutes and it will thicken enough for you to pipe it.